The discovery of the “magnificent” pearl changed the lives of Kino and Juana severely because they were not used to this kind of wealth. Before they found the pearl, Kino and Juana lived a happy, humble and quiet life. “Kino heard the little splash of the morning waves on the beach. It was very good – Kino closed his eyes again to listen to his music.”(Pg. 1-2) Kino loved the simple life; nevertheless whenever things were beginning to look good and simple something went wrong.
At the beginning of the book Kino and Juana lived a happy good life until their first and only child Coyotito got stung by a scorpion. The one-second that it took the scorpion to bite Coyotito changed the rest of Kino and Juana’s life forever. Kino could not afford to pay for the medical attention Coyotito needed. Kino was determined to find a great pearl that could pay the doctor to save his son. “Kino in his pride and youth and strength, could remain down over two minutes without strain, so that he worked deliberately, selecting the largest shells.”(Pg. 18)
After Kino found his great pearl bad things started happening, Kino and Juana’s lives were in trouble. Two men notified in the book as the “dark ones” tried to steal the pearl, luckily Kino had been prepared and got rid of the enemies but that was not the end of the misery. Coyotito got very sick and the Doctor had deliberately made things worse. When it was time to sell the pearl, the buyers offered prices that Kino thought were too low. Kino was angry with the pearl buyers for what they had said. “I will not make an offer at all. I do not want it. This is not a pearl – it is a monstrosity.” Kino got angry and decided he wanted to go elsewhere and find a buyer for the pe…
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…g was alive now…” Since there is not much talking in the book especially between Kino and Juana another form of communication was the singing of songs and the hearing of music. A way of Juana and Kino to agree with each other is to be singing the same song at the same time.
In conclusion this novel has taken a poor greedy man and has put him through hell. First his son was bitten buy a scorpion and the man is determined to save his baby by finding a great pearl to sell and get money to pay the doctor to save his son. The man has murdered and decides to escape his town with his family. Some trackers, who the man bravely kills, followed the man and his family in the woods. After the battle his sick son, who was the reason he got in the whole mess with the pearl and murdering, died. Overall, The Pearl was filled with action, love, enemies, and family
Comparing Hawthorne’s and Melville’s Works
Similarities in Hawthorne’s and Melville’s Works
Insanity can be a dark descent into the strange, nightmarish unknown realms of the mind unable to return to the known world of reason. This is a major theme in literature, and is particularly evident in the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. The nightmarish undertones are one of the main similarities in Hawthorne’s and Melville’s works. Another similarity is writing style. Both men write very descriptively, and their writing is based more in intellect than emotion. Also both men write about the nightmarish descent into madness.
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is an excellent example of this descent into madness. Through his narrative Melville reveals Ahab’s insanity. In fact Ahab himself says, “but I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened (Melville, 166)!” This is said in response to the fact that the crew, especially Starbuck, think he’s mad. As the story goes on the depths of Ahab’s madness are revealed when Melville describes how Ahab’s mind is continually wrapped around this thought of revenge. In a ruthless never-ending cycle that he cannot escape even in sleep, so that his “thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking thus makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feed upon the heart for ever; that vulture the very creature he creates (Melville, 200).” Thus he illustrates the downward, continuous, spiral of insanity and how madness feeds upon itself. This is also illustrated by the whirlpool that sucks the Pequod and her crew down into the depths of the ocean(Melville, 566).
One of the Hawthorne’s best examples of the descent into madness (or at least a form of it) is…
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…e uses throughout this story gives it a strange, dreamlike quality, which is very appropriate for the dark tone of the story.
These two authors are very similar. Both use dark, surrealistic language. Both men show different aspects of the descent into madness. Also both men use a descriptive, intelligent writing style. Instead of appealing to your emotions, or telling you what you should be feeling, they describe what is happening. Their descriptions may induce certain emotions, such as disgust, fear, or sadness, but they appeal first to the mind. They appeal first to the mind, and when the mind dictates to the heart that this is wrong, or strange, then the heart stirs and provides the appropriate emotion. Their writing styles may have their differences, but on the whole they are more alike than they are different.